It was a cold day, a really cold day, like I don’t see anymore so often. I was only 5 years old and just arrived back from a long stroll with my dad through mountains of snow.
The only thing I wanted was to quickly get warmed up. That was no simple task back then. The warm water running through the central heating of the concrete blocks of flats was a scarce resource; or a miracle.
Back then, heating up your house with an (improvised) gas stove was illegal. But it was the only way to survive in a Bucharest covered in snow and with -10 degrees in the day time. That is why we were all criminals. This incredible life saving machine was brought in the back of a car from more than 100 km away by an uncle. I remember he had been afraid to bring it in, afraid to be seen by neighbours, who would then have had to report it. Nevertheless it was worthy the effort.
It could heat a part of the house quite quickly, it could be used to warm up food and even to bake potatoes and also I could warm up my feet in no time. That is what I did that cold day after the long walk.
After warming up my feet, my dad said to me that he needed to go for a few minutes to buy some milk. A few minutes?!? That was really optimistic. Milk was also a scarce resource, but I will not develop that story here.
Back then I had a good friend, Ursulache. He still is a special friend, but he only gets to see me 3 times per year. He is a wise big bear, at the time he was almost as big as me, with kind eyes and a face that asks for continuous hugs. He is coming from the place where most of the gas and milk of Romania was going to – Moscow. It was brought to me by my parents when they went there for a vacation (I guess).
So there I was home alone, just in the company of Ursulache and his two new blond friends that my cousin forgot after a visit. To remind you my feet were warm enough to be restless. I simply didn’t know what to do. Out of a sudden I realized that I was so selfish to only warm up my own feet, how about my good friend Ursulache? How about his two blond friends, freezing in their rather short Barbie skirts and summery t-shirts?
I dragged the chair in front of the stove again and put them there. Unfortunately they seemed a bit too tired to sit, they kept falling off. Besides my dad left the stove on the lowest level, so the heat was not high enough for my 3 buddies to get warm feet like mine. I didn’t sit around, but took action. I opened the door of the stove, grabbed my friends and told them they would be much warmer and happier inside.
I laid down on the couch, proud of my selfless and thoughtful action and almost fell asleep under the blanket. Then my dad came back home. He passed by the stove to put it higher and smelled something strange, like heated up plastic. Immediately he looked inside to see what was going on and found my well asleep friends. Unfortunately he had to wake them up and put them back in the cold room. But my dad told me it was a necessary rescue action.
I understood that my deed had been selfless, but maybe not very thoughtful, as it could have hurt my friends irreversibly. I also understood that Ursulache actually preferred cold places, he actually never asked me to put him inside the hot stove again. The girls on the other hand were so pleased with their new hairstyle that they’ve never changed it since…
